Items tagged with Alienware

The last time we looked at Dell's Alienware X51 series of console-sized gaming PCs was back in mid-2013. Back then we were working with Intel's 4th generation Haswell Core Series processors and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 600 series GPUs based on their Kepler graphics core. Our man Paul, frankly, was spouting off a bit wildly about aliens serving humans for dinner and, well, let's just say it made for interesting reading. But that was so 2013, and like anything in life, seasons change and architectures evolve. Paul is still nuttier than a fruit cake but that's a different story all together, so we'll...Read more...

I'm about to make some enemies, but I firmly believe console-sized gaming PCs like the Alienware X51 and Falcon Northwest Tiki are poised to assimilate their behemoth desktop competitors, zap them with shrink rays, and usher in powerful 4K gaming in diminutive mini-ITX packages. We're not quite there, but today Alienware has abducted the former incarnation of its X51 PC and replaced it with a revised system that represents one confident leap in that direction. When last the Alienware X51 descended upon HotHardware, it was clearly designed to take on game consoles like the Xbox 360, right...Read more...

13-inch gaming notebooks; yeah we’ve seen those. 15-inch and 17-inch gaming notebooks? That’s a big yawn. But 18-inches of gaming goodness? Now you’ve got our attention. The folks over at Dell have resurrected the Alienware 18 nameplate for a balls-to-the-wall hunk of burning love for laptop lovers. Given its huge 18-inch screen size, that makes for a form-factor that is capable of supporting a lot of high-powered gaming goodness. How good you ask? For starters, the base system (which rings in at $2,500) includes a 3.5GHz Intel Core i7-4710MQ processor, 16GB of 1600MHz DDR3L memory, dual NVIDIA...Read more...

Dell's Alienware division has a knack for making a splash with PC system design, whether it's with their big, bad unapologetic notebooks, unique X51 small form-factor PCs, or their no-holds-barred Area-51 killer gaming rigs. In fact, for some folks, Alienware designs can be an either "you love it or hate it" affair. Full disclosure: personally, we tend to be cut from the former affectionate group of performance enthusiasts that generally favor Alienware's outside-the-box design efforts -- and oh boy, Alienware's recent redesign of the Area-51 is way outside the box. In fact, it's not...Read more...

It feels as though we’ve been talking about Valve’s Steam Machine consoles for ages, there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel. After announcing in May 2014 that official Steam Machines would be delayed until 2015, Valve today announced that customers can begin pre-ordering Steam Machines today, and that the first deliveries will occur on October 16. The official launch, however, will take place nearly one month later on November 10. The first two hardware partners to offer Steam Machines — Alienware and Cyberpower — should come as no surprise to anyone that keeps even a half-open eye on...Read more...

Dell’s Alienware gaming team impressed us with its Area 51 desktop earlier this year and we’ve been impatiently awaiting the 2015 version of the Alienware 15 mobile gamer ever since. The laptop is finally here, and there’s a twist: Instead of sending a money-is-no-object configuration (like it did with the Area 51), the company sent us a more budget-friendly Alienware 15 – assuming, that is, that your budget is in the $1,500 range.At $1,499.99, the Alienware 15 we checked out is in the middle of the price range for Dell’s 15-inch Alienware gamer laptop series. Gamers with tighter budgets can pick...Read more...

The PAX East show in Boston, MA raged on this weekend with a massive crowd as large as we've every seen it overrunning the venue. From crazy Cosplay types to hardcore, no mercy gamers, there's an absolute heat of humanity pushing the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center to what must be close to max capacity. PAX East appears to have outgrown their venue.That said, though there was lots of people watching to do, frankly, with a few notable exceptions, there wasn't a whole lot of new technology on display at PAX. Between MWC 2015 and GDC, most manufacturers have already pulled the curtain back...Read more...

Alienware's new Area 51 gaming desktop PC arrived late last year and it certainly turned heads, including ours, due to its somewhat radical design. Sure, we've seen some wild chassis designs out of Dell's Alienware gaming PC division in the past, but their new, redesigned Area 51 machine really broke the mold. In fact, if you're stuck on the old gray or black box design of most legacy systems, the "Triad" chassis of the new Area 51 may be too much of a departure for you to wrap your head around. We think, with a little investigation into the mechanical engineering and simple physics of the...Read more...

Alienware has had a busy January. During the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year, the Dell subsidiary unveiled updated versions of its Alienware 15 and Alienware 17 gaming notebooks complete with fifth generation Intel Core processors. And earlier this week, we took a look at Alienware’s Alpha which not only serves as an HTPC, but also a console PC for light gaming while lounging on your couch.Alienware Alpha But if you’d like to hear more about Alienware’s current product lineup, or what happens behind the scenes when new products are developed, why not go directly the source?...Read more...

Valve’s Steam Machine was all the rage at CES 2014 in Las Vegas, but as we enter 2015, the SteamOS gaming platform (and Valve’s tantalizing Steam Controller) are still works in progress. SteamOS hasn’t been written off, but Dell, which was one of the first PC makers to build a custom console-sized system for SteamOS, isn’t waiting around. Its Alienware gaming brand launched the Alienware Alpha, which is meant to be your next (or your first) living room gaming PC. The Alienware Alpha plugs the holes left by Valve with Microsoft hardware and software and a simple 10-ft UI developed in house....Read more...

We first caught wind on the Alienware Alpha in the lead-up to Valve’s Steam Box announcements, prior to the Consumer Electronics Show. If you’re unfamiliar with the Alienware Alpha, it is a sleek, small form factor gaming PC, designed specifically for gamers. Valve is not quite ready with Steam OS or the Steam Controller, so the whole Steam Box angle is on hold for now, but that didn’t stop Alienware from re-tooling a bit and shipping the Alpha with Windows 8.1 instead. There are a number of Alpha configurations currently available. The machines have a starting price of $549 with the entry-level...Read more...

When Valve initially revealed its partners for the company’s Steam Machine, Alienware was one of the first on board. However, since the Steam Machine was delayed, Alienware decided to go ahead and re-package the device. Called the Alienware Alpha, the company has started shipping the device out to consumers who pre-ordered the PC console.The Alienware Alpha has a starting price of $549 with the low end version featuring an Intel Core i3 4130T dual-core processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 500GB hard drive, and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M GPU. The $799 model swaps out the i3 for an Intel Core i5 4590T quad-core...Read more...